Swimmers safety belts



Sept. 24, 1963 v. LoR'rz swmMERs' SAFETY BELTS Filed July 27, 1961 HWENTORJ VICTOK LON/Z ATTO@ EY United States Patent O M 3,104,403 SWMMERS SAFETY BELTS Victor Lortz, 579 Euclid Ave., Toronto 4, Untario, Canada Filed July 27, 1961, Ser. No. 127,231 4 Claims. (Cl. 9-322) The invention relates to improvements in swimming aids in the form of safety belts.

More particularly my invention pertains to inflatable devices adapted to 'be carried on the persons of a swimmer for aiding in maintaining buoyancy such as when he may get into difficulties for any reason.

In particular my invention relates to a buoyancy device adapted to have a quiescent state in which it can be worn upon the body of 1a swimmer and an active state wherein it is inllated with a gas to suc-h a degree as to insure buoyance of the wearer to support the wearer in water.

More particularly, my invention relates to an improvement in a safety 'belt of the kind devised to have quiescent state in which it assumes a relatively dat and compact form of a belt so contrived that when the actuating means is motivated the belt unfolds int-o an inflated tu-be about the body -of the wearer. Devices of this kind are well known and have -been provided in many forms such as life jackets, May Wests, and similar inflatable articles.

More particularly, my invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in an inilatable belt of the kind referred to composed `of folds of resilient material forming a normally folded tube having closed ends fitted with clasp means for Xing the belt about the torso of a wearer which ends are sealed against the entry of water and the exit `of gas. In this type of device a dehydrated chemical agent is disposed within the folds of the tube for generating a gas when wetted by water and a manually operable valve is supplied for controlling admittance of water for wetting the chemical agent.

In accordance with the teachings of the prior art with respect to this type `of safety belt, the valve is disposed on Van exterior surface of the belt and this arrangement has been found to be :highly objectionable in that the valve may be accidentally operated. Moreover, the wearer is required to use two hands in order to quickly effect inflation of the belt as required in an emergency. A further objection is .that since -a swimmer requires at least one hand to keep him afloat while brin-ging into operation the safety belt the known type of 'swinnners inliatable belt has been found to be disadvantageous.

The present invention has for its `object to provide a safety belt of the kind referred to which may be conveniently operated with one hand and which is so devised that it can ybe worn 'by a swimmer without the likelihood of accidental inflation.

A further object of my invention is to provide a more efficient and reliable swimmers safety belt of the kind referred to which is economical of manufacture.

A selected embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which:

FIG. l shows a belt constructed in accordance with the present invention and depicting how a swimmer may bring .about the iniiation of the belt by the use of one hand in depressing a valve;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged perspective sectional view of the belt and the water intake valve;

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view of the belt on an enlarged scale and depicting the unfolded condition of the belt yshowing the valve in cross section exposed for operation; and

FIG. 4 is a sectionized fragmentary view of the belt on 3,104,493 Patented Sept. 24, 1963 ICC a reduced scale showing a somewhat varient form of the folds.

In carrying out my -invention I employ a belt, generally denoted at 1, comp-rising a tube 2 of preferably resilient :gas-tight material such als rubber, plastic or the like, having two folds, indicated :at 3 land 4, which encompass the body lof :a wearer to form a relatively thin tubular band held in place by a clasp of a conventional type, indicated at 5 (f'FlG. l). It is to be understood that the belt has sealed ends Vand that the intereng-aging elements of the clasp are suitably attached to the ends of the belt as is well known in the art. The tubular belt is folded upon itself in flat condition and this, of course, reduces the width `of the belt, making it into `a narrow band which can be worn with comfort and which when expanded by inflation is converted into a tubular enlargement to provide the necessary buoyancy for the swimmer.

As will be seen from an inspection of FIGS. 2 and 3, the inner fold 3 of the belt has :an inner wall 6 and an outer wall 7; and the outer fold 4 has an inner wall 8 and an outer wall 9. The outer fol-d 4 overlies the inner fol-d 3, and the folds may be `separated by an unfolding action along the length of the belt. i

Inside one or other .of the folds of the tube there is deposited a dehydrated chemical Siti, such as vanhydrous sodium bicarbonate #and Ianhydrous tartaric acid or the like in suicient concentration to provide, when wetted with water, an appropriate volume of gas suicient to unfold and inflate the belted tube to its designed annular size and configuration.

A spring loaded, push-ed to open water-intake valve 10 is supplied in the belt as usual for effecting inllation of the tube. lt is, however, an important object of the invention to locate such a valve in the inner wall S of the outer fold 4 of the folded belt for lfunctional reasons as referred to earlier. Said valve comprises -a body 11 secured -to said inner wall 8 of the cuter fold 4 at or near an end of the belt. The valve body is desirably of circular shape land has a circumscribing groove i2.. A suitable opening is made in the wall 3 and the edge portion of the wall material, indicated `'at 13, is secured to the valve body 11 by a lapped wire 14 to form a water-tight joint. rIlhis manner of attaching the valve body in the tube is given by way of example, but not of limitation. l

The valve body has an internal seat 16 surrounding an inlet `opening 17. An internally disposed valve sealing plate 18 is` normally hel-d in seating engagement with the valve seat by means of a convolute spring 19 supported agai 'srt la back plate 20 having a central opening 21, as best shown in FIG. 3. A central button on the sealing plate is disposed at the outer face of the valve body and is receptive to linger pressure for opening the valve.

With particular reference to FIG. 2, it will be mranifest that in normal use of the safety belt, the inner and outer folds of the tube completely overly the valve body and extend beyond the same thereby affording adequate protection against incidental operation lof the valve but at the same time affording -a ready access to the valve for the operation thereof as rnay be desired. Als is clearly shown in FIG. l, access `can be had to the valve by merely unfolding the outer fold :at the valve region by the use of one hand as it is. a simple matter to feel the location of the valve and to pull that portion of the outer fold `containing the samein order that the valve part of the belt may be held with the hand while a nger is used to press the button in order to yadmit water for generation of gas. This Ipulling creates suction to draw in water.

In FIG. 4 there is shown a modification of the folded tube als comprising three folds 25, 26 and 27. The valve may be located in the inner wall of any one of these folds. The construction and arrangement remains the 3 saine except for variation in number of the folds of the tube.

The simplicity yand reliability of the construction and arrangement will be manifest on the foregoing description. The advantages of the invention will ibe appreciated and it is to be understood that such modications and variations may be resorted to as fairly come Within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is: Y

l. A buoyancy `device comprising a belt for personal Wear composed of at least two overlying folds of pliant material forming an annular tube, there lbeing `an inner fold including inner and outer Wlall portions, and an outer fold including inner and outer Wall portions, chemioal mean-s disposed in the interior of said tube, said inner wall of said outer fold having a water inlet opening, and

a depressible valve controlling said water inlet opening,

2. The buoyancy device of claim l, said belt compr-isand said chemical means compris-ing a chemical of the type which generates a gals when wetted by Water.

3. The buoyancy device of claim 2, #and in which said overlying folds extend over the entire superficial area of said valve and beyond said depressible element thereof to prevent accidental operation of said depressible element.

4. The buoyancy device of claim l, said v-alve comprising a body secured to said inner Wall of said outer fold and having a port in register with said inlet opening and I'also having an internal seat surrounding said port, an internally disposed vvalve-sealing plate spring loaded and normally engaged with said internal seal, and a central button on said seating plate for manual depression alon with said sealing plate to open said port.

References Cited in the tile of this patent Y UNITED STATES PATENTS 

1. A BUOYANCY DEVICE COMPRISING A BELT FOR PERSONAL WEAR COMPOSED OF AT LEAST TWO OVERLYING FOLDS OF PLIANT MATERIAL FORMING AN ANNULAR TUBE, THERE BEING AN INNER FOLD INCLUDING INNER AND OUTER WALL PORTIONS, AND AN OUTER FOLD INCLUDING INNER AND OUTER WALL PORTIONS, CHEMICAL MEANS DISPOSED IN THE INTERIOR OF SAID TUBE, SAID INNER WALL OF SAID OUTER FOLD HAVING A WATER INLET OPENING, AND A DEPRESSIBLE VALVE CONTROLLING SAID WATER INLET OPENING, THE STRUCTURE BEING CHARACTERIZED IN THAT SAID DEPRESSIBLE VALVE IS NORMALLY ENCLOSED BETWEEN THE OVERLYING INNER AND OUTER WALLS OF SAID INNER FOLD AND THE OUTER WALL OF SAID OUTER FOLD, SAID OUTER FOLD BEING MANUALLY DISPLACEABLE AWAY FROM SAID INNER FOLD AT THE REGION OF SAID VALVE IN ORDER TO GAIN ACCESS TO AND ACTUATE THE VALVE BY MANUAL DEPRESSIONAL OPERATION THEREOF TO ADMIT WATER FOR ACTIVATING SAID CHEMICAL MEANS. 